Day 142 - Furniture

 FURNITURE

Prompt - Furniture : Write about a piece of furniture in your home

It was a bit of junk really.  A charity shop find, that I took on as, pretentiously, an 'art project'.  The arty bit proved beyond my limited capabilities, but the result was, and remains, pleasing, and one of the best and most satisfying DIY projects I've undertaken.

A five drawer chest, with a slim vanity compartment on top, where the lid lifted to reveal a mirror.  There was very little damage, but the hinges on the lid looked to be nearing the end of their life, the handles were hideous twisted brass that belong in the thirties, and the varnish was thin to non existent in places.  But I saw potential in it, and decided to drag it off to the garage and set about giving it new life.

That meant ditching the old handles, taking out the cracked mirror, and removing the remaining varnish.  A bit of sanding, quite a lot of sanding really, and it was ready for undercoating.  I decided to give it as full body paint job.  Meaning anything that might be seen would get painted and varnished.  That included the interiors of the drawers, and of the lidded compartment.  For a relatively small household item that translates into a surprising amount of surface area to be covered.  But I was in no hurry and worked at it whenever I could, taking time to get the job right. 

 Once everything had been undercoated I set about applying the gloss.  There six different colours of paint (it was going to be seven, but I chickened out on that one, but more of that in a moment), which meant drawing up a plan before I started.  I had a clear vision of what I wanted to end up with.  The carcass was in a mid-blue shade.  That meant the sides, all the bars at the front, the stubby legs, and the interior of the top compartment.  It would be the most prevalent colour, and yet, in some ways, the least noticeable.

The five drawers were each in a different colour.  There was a pale blue and a navy, a pale green and a forest green, and a stand out fire engine red.  From top to bottom the drawers were navy, pale green, red, pale blue, and dark green.  Plus the liftable lid was to be in the same red, both inside and out, with a new mirror and hinges.  I had bought some simple wooden knobs for handles and the same five colours adorned them, two knobs to each shade.  They would be distributed such that each drawer had knobs of two different colours.  For instance, the red knobs were on each of the darker drawers, while the red drawer had pale green and blue knobs.

Two, sometimes three coats, were applied, then everything got two coats of clear varnish for protection.  This chest was for use, not just show.  The end result looks bright, primary, a cross between a children's nursery item and statement piece.  I was especially pleased with the lidded compartment - which, sadly, has never really had any use.

I mentioned a seventh colour and a bit of artiness.  My original plan had been to add a finishing touch of thin wavy yellow lines, reaching across and around the variously coloured sections.  I made some trial strokes on old bits of wood and convinced myself that my limited artistic talents meant there was greater risk of ruining than enhancing, so I gave that not-so-smart idea a miss.

That must have been about ten years ago, and the chest remains in service and looking striking.  I am still proud of what I achieved.